


We Close Our Eyes

by scornfullearner



Series: Under the Covers [2]
Category: Game Grumps, Ninja Sex Party - Fandom, Starbomb
Genre: F/M, Literature, Romance, Sex, Sexual Content, Vanilla Kink, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:17:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6294739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scornfullearner/pseuds/scornfullearner
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny and Lexi (OC) adventure into karaoke, have a run in with her ex, play in the studio, and have some fun with robe sashes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Close Our Eyes

Part 2-Continuation of "Your Love"

“We Close Our Eyes”

       My legs were cramped in a way I had not felt in very long time. My right arm was well past the heavy, tingly part of asleep. My fingers felt like they were being stabbed by a million tiny needles that had been heated to the exact temperature of hell. Stretching them only made the pain increase. I tried to move but couldn’t. 

       I opened my eyes when I realized that this was the third time within twenty four hours that I had fallen asleep somewhere other than my own bed. 

Lexi shifted, pinching my arm harder. 

“Ah!” I tried not to shout. 

Lexi’s body jolted. 

“Lexi, I don’t want to, believe me, but I have to move.” 

She let out a moan of protest as she lifted her head from my shoulder. Slowly, she worked her way to a seated position. I did the same. I shook out my arm, then stretched my legs out in front of me. 

“Flex your feet,” Lexi mumbled. “It’s going to hurt at first, but it will feel super good on your calves and hamstrings.” 

I did as she said. “Shhhhit.” The word came out through clenched teeth. 

“I’m sorry, Dan.”

“You did not bless me with grasshopper legs.”

“No, but I pinned you down.”

I flashed back to pinning her against the wall in her bedroom. Those memories were going to stay fresh for a while. 

“True,” I said nudging her. “It’s alright. Sleeping in the car. Sleeping on the couch. Not staying hydrated. The most painful parts are all on me. I’ll dance it out later.” 

Lexi laughed. “What’s your day like today?”

“Um…what’s today?” I rubbed my eyes. 

“Sunday.” 

“Sweet. My day looks like whatever I want it to look like. I’ll run by Arin’s this afternoon, but that’s really all I need to do. What about you?” 

“I actually have to be at work in about an hour, which means I have to get out of here soon. Your car will need a jump start.” 

“Don’t go.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She shivered when my fingers touched the tip of ear and she blushed.  
“Danny, I have to.” She stood up. 

She leaned down to kiss my cheek. “I’ll be back,” she whispered into my ear. She looked at me with a devious smile. 

“After that, you better promise.” 

“Oh, you bet I promise.” She chuckled. 

She started to walk away. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward me. She let out an amused squeal. 

“You don’t have to leave yet,” I remarked. 

I pulled her down onto my lap. I traced her lips with my thumb. She tilted her head to nestle her cheek in my hand. 

“I do, actually,” she said with a pout. “Unless you have something in your closet I can wear. Other than a ridiculous silk robe.” 

“You’d look great in it!” 

“Ah, no.” She leaned toward me. “Danny.” Another kiss on my cheek. “I promise.” A kiss on the other cheek. “I will come right back here after work.” She planted her lips on mine. 

Simultaneously, my body tensed and melted. 

“Hold that thought, Mr. Sexbang.” 

I barked out a laugh. “Goddammit, Lexi! At this rate, I may just kick you out so I can take care of things myself!” 

“I’ll leave you to it! I’m supposed to get off at six. Brian needed my help with something at the studio, but I’ll let him know I can’t make it.” 

“No, that’s fine. I will probably be there, too.” 

She nodded, kissed me one last time, then left. 

I stood up and watched her go. My chest felt heavy with something uncomfortable. Lexi and I had made a huge leap in less than two days’ time. She had been with Joe for years. At one point, she was planning their wedding. She may not have loved him yesterday as much as she had loved him then, but that was a huge thing to step away from that quickly. I could not even remember the last time I went on more than two dates with someone. Between two bands and an internet show, there was very little time for dating.

We had jumped from “always just friends” to having sex and making promises to come back for more. Would this just be a fuck buddies kind of relationship? Or was there a spark? Arin had pointed out how we had been around each other. He was probably on to something. 

***  
I spent most of the day cleaning and writing. After a few hours, I started to get cabin fever. I called Barry to help me revive my car. Both Lexi and I had forgotten. Barry understood falling asleep in the car. After last year’s “Stout Train” I couldn’t get him out, so I left him there. He knew if he gave me any grief, I’d throw it right back. 

Once the car was started, I drove over to Arin’s place. He wanted to show me a Starbomb rap he had been working on. That usually meant he needed to bombard me with what he had written and see how I reacted to it. Most of the time, I would follow his lead with the beat, then work out a melody for my parts.

There was a sign taped Arin’s front door. 

“Bad Chinese. Too sick. May be dying.” 

“Poor guy,” I chuckled. 

Chapter 2

Singing was always one of my favorite things to do. Even though Starbomb and Ninja Sex Party were known for being silly, I took studio time seriously. Even if some of the vocals required nothing but “oh oh oh” I looked forward to doing it. I loved all of the layers of harmony in the songs we did. We had just released an album, so there really was not anything to recording. I just felt the need to do something. The writing I had done after Lexi left had me inspired. 

No one was at the studio. Brian would show up around 6 PM or so, after dinner with his wife and daughter. Sundays were usually family day, but he would often come in and put some melodies together in Logic, the program we used for music magic or work on some of the business side of things we didn’t have time to work on before Sundays. 

I settled into the office at Brian’s Mac. I tinkered with Logic, working out a rough draft, for lack of a better term, for one of the songs I had finished earlier. Time had gone home by faster than I had realized. Brian poked his head through the door. 

“What’s up?” 

“Just me admiring the shit out of you, man.” My body had warmed up due to the amount of focus required for the task. “My brain feels hot.” 

“Thanks. You got something new?” 

“Yeah. I think I’ve worked it out enough that I can work with it.” 

“Cool. Lexi will be here soon. I needed fresh eyes for the layout of the photo booklet. I know we’re both sick of looking at it. She’ll probably set up in here.” 

I nodded. Lexi worked as a photographer and photo lab tech at a local photography studio. We often pulled her in for perspective.  
“Can you set me up so I can play with recording?” 

“Sure!” 

Recording went better than expected for a first run. We stopped briefly when Lexi stepped in to say hello. She set up in the office. We went back to work. After another hour, we called it a night and said our goodbyes. 

I walked down the hall to the office to find Lexi. I expected to find her wearing headphones and bobbing around as she worked. That was not what I saw. Every witty thing I had planned to say disappeared from my mind. Her face was buried in her hands; sobs shook her shoulders. 

“Lexi?” 

She shook her head. 

I pulled a chair to her side. She refused to move; refused to look at me. Her email inbox dinged, which drew my attention to her laptop. The open email was obviously very long. I scanned over what I could see without scrolling up or down. 

“Damn,” I muttered. The two paragraphs I read were nothing but insults. “What the hell is this?” 

Lexi finally looked up. “Joe’s fucking mother.” She sniffled. “Today has been nothing but this bullshit.” She reached for her phone. “Look at this. It started before I even clocked in.” 

She handed it to me, showing me a slew of text messages from Joe. They started out innocent enough. Things like “Lexi, please give me a call” and “we can work it out.” They escalated into shameless begging. “Please, Lexi, take me back. You can’t do this.” From there, they became insulting. Nothing but strings of insults and things like “I never loved you anyway, you whore.” There had to be at least thirty messages between 9 and 10 AM. There was a gap from ten and noon, then at least twenty more.

I was speechless. I could only imagine the emotions Lexi was feeling. 

“I walked into work to find out that our other photograph quit yesterday and the full time lab tech quit today. Sundays are busy for us because families come in after church in their dress clothes, expecting us to get through one hour photo sessions in five minutes while their kids scream and cry and the parents bicker over things as trivial as one hair out of place. I was doing the work of three people. I left my phone in the car after my break so I wouldn’t be tempted to throw it at a wall or someone’s face. I was looking forward to coming here to chill out and help Brian. I’m glad I waited until I was almost finished to check my email.” 

“Lexi, breathe.” 

She took a few slow breaths. “His mother hated me the entire time we were together. But I break up with him and oh, no, I’ve hurt her baby, I’m the worst thing god ever created. Worse than Hitler, lower than low. I’m so fucking angry.” She dropped her head back into her hands. 

Lexi was more than angry. I had seen Lexi angry. I had also seen her hurt. This was definitely a hardcore yank from column A and a chunk of column B. She needed a distraction. 

I closed her laptop. She did not protest, so I carried on. I placed her phone, laptop, pens, and scratch paper she was planning layouts on into her messenger bag. From here, I tidied up the desk. The photo booklet could wait another day or two. I set it aside, the turned off the desktop computer. 

“Let’s go out,” I said, breaking the silence. 

Lexi looked up at me. “I don’t know about that.”

“Aww, come on, Lexi. A little karaoke will do you good! Do you have to work tomorrow?” 

“Well, no,” she trailed off. 

“Perfect! Let’s go!” 

***  
Arin, Suzy, and I had a few favorite spots for karaoke, but I took Lexi to my favorite place. It was almost hidden from the rest of L.A.; a well kept secret. The crowd ranged from late twenties to mid sixties. The older patrons were just as fun, if not more so, than the younger ones, surprisingly. They would dance, sing, and drink some of us under the table. 

I led Lexi in by the hand. She was still shaken up from the day’s drama. Once inside, she picked out a table while I ordered drinks. A soda for me and a Jager Bomb for her. Her face lit up when I placed the small plastic cup into her hand. She held it up to her nose like someone would a flower. 

“My favorite,” she mused.

“I know,” I said with a wink. 

She then turned the cup up, swallowing every drop without making a face. 

The DJ had noticed me come in, so he put me in rotation. He already had my current obsession set up to play. “Your Love” by The Outfield. It started an hour long 80s trend among the singers that was only broken when Lexi finally made her way up to sing a country song I did not recognize. 

I sat mesmerized. I had forgotten how beautiful her voice was. 

She picked up a second shot on the way back to the table. An older man approached me and asked if he could “steal her away for a dance”. Had she not just downed the second shot, I am sure she would have denied him the pleasure. She allowed him to take her hand. He spun her around while someone sang a fast paced song. I was surprised when she allowed him to hold her close for a slow dance. She came back to the table in a fit of giggles. 

The DJ always wrapped up the night with what I liked to call a Hip Hop Line Dancing song called “Cupid Shuffle.” He announced that the night was nearing an end. At least half of the remaining people there lined up on the dance floor and began chanting “Dan-ny! Dan-ny! Dan-ny!” I was known for goofing off throughout the whole thing and they loved it. I threw my hands up in the air in a fake surrender and made my way up to the front of the group. 

After the dancing, some of the people I had gotten to know from visiting the bar came by our table. Lexi was not sure how to handle the amount of complements she received. Everyone begged her to come back as soon as possible. She adopted a smile-and-nod policy and redirected to me. After about a thousand hand shakes and hugs, we were left alone at our table. 

The jukebox was blaring and Lexi sang along with every word at the top of her lungs. In all the years I had known her, I had never seen her feel music to this extent. She truly needed to get out. I mentally gave myself a high five for making a great choice. 

Things felt right. We had been sitting across from one another until the barrage of people made Lexi feel like hiding beside me. I had protectively put an arm around her. As she came down from the energy drink in her shots, she rested her head on my shoulder.

It wasn’t until then that I spotted Marianne. She and I made eye contact just as she was about to pass our table. She paused by my left side. I was not sure what to expect. An apology? An explanation? 

She looked at Lexi. “Did he spill a drink on you, too, to get you to go out?” She sized Lexi up one more time before walking off. 

Lexi sat up. “The fuck? Was that the bitch who blew you off?”

“Yeah. Not a big deal.” 

“Yeah, it is!” Apparently, Lexi’s anger was refueled easily.

Before I could stop her, Lexi marched up to Marianne. Literally. She marched. The bartenders watched, preparing for a possible fight.

“Listen here, Missy,” Lexi commanded as she tapped Marianne on the shoulder. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you sure as hell like to bark up the wrong tree.” 

I face-palmed and made a mental note to ask if Lexi had a close southern relative. 

“Excuse me?” 

“You heard me. You don’t get to stand up the best man in this entire state and act like you were in the right.”

“Awww,” Marianne cooed. “She’s standing up for the perpetual gamer boy!” 

I worried Lexi might throw a punch. 

“You’re damn right. Look, I have only this fuck to give about you and I doubt what I’m saying will leave any impression on you. But there is absolutely no reason to act that way. You don’t want to date someone? Fucking tell them. Simple as that.”  
        Lexi looked at the man standing by Marianne. “What’s this? Your first? Second date? Buddy, don’t expect it to go further. This one likes to lead a guy on. When he’s ready to step out of his comfort zone leave them high and dry.” 

With that, Lexi spun on her heel and marched back to me. She wiggled in between my knees. She beamed. 

“Geez, I was sure you were about to get us thrown out of here.” I pulled her toward me by her hips. “It was kind of hot.” 

She threw head back and laughed. 

I peered over at the man standing by Marianne. Lexi’s spill must have gotten to him. The two seemed to be having a heated discussion. Sometimes, men don’t like knowing there’s a chance their pride could be wounded. 

“What do you say we get out of here? I can see you’re crashing.” 

“So wise, you are.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. 

Feeling exhausted myself, I rested my cheek on her forearm. “My place or yours?” 

Chapter 3  
The next morning, the smell of coffee woke me up. I inhaled deeply, stretched, and rolled over on to my back. I felt like I could stretch for days. After I convinced myself to get up and put on pants, I made my way toward the kitchen where I found Lexi sitting at the table. She was sketching something out. 

“Morning,” she said without looking up. 

“Hey. Thanks for the coffee.” 

“Uh-huh.” 

I peeked over her shoulder. She had roughly sketched out the photos from the cd booklet from memory. Each square was numbered; some of the numbers had been crossed out and changed.

I leaned against the cabinet and sipped my coffee. 

“Almost done.” Her pencil continued to scratch furiously against the paper.

“Alright, got it.” She sighed. “Sorry. I woke up a couple of hours ago and couldn’t go back to sleep. Figured I’d take advantage of some quiet time.” 

She turned to look at me. For the first time, I witnessed what Arin had mentioned. Lexi’s eyes dropped down to my feet, moved up to my crossed ankles, and continued up until our eyes met again. I couldn’t help but smile. 

“How do you do that?” 

“What? Stand? Well, you see, I’ve got these legs…”

“No, you ass.” She shook her head. “Make lazy look so damned sexy.”

“Years of practice.” I winked. 

“I have never said anything like this out loud, because it’s cheesy as fuck, but when you do that, all I want to do is crawl up and down you like a tree. Even when you were upset the other night. I had to slap the horny side of my brain to shut it up.” 

I arched an eyebrow. 

She was still sizing me up. I could almost feel the trails her eyes left on my body. She moved toward me, a serious look in her eyes. She took the mug from my hands and pulled me by my wrists back to the bedroom where she gently pushed me onto the bed. She pushed me all the way down to my back. 

Her kiss was a gentle tease. I tried to reach up, to pull her in for a deeper kiss, but I couldn’t. She had pinned my arms down. 

“I could get used to Dominant Lexi,” I expressed softly. 

“Shh. Don’t move.”  

I watched as she went to my closet. “What are you after?” 

“You’ll see,” she sing-songed. 

She came back with two robe sashes in her hand. She climbed back on top of me, settling just above my hips. She silently took my left arm up over my head. She tied my wrist to the post of the headboard. She did the same with the other hand. No one had tied me up before. I was the one in control every time I had ever had sex. The want to feel her skin with my hands drove me crazy.

Lexi’s hands felt like silk as she moved them down my arms. She kissed my chest from my collar bone down. Down. Further down. I pulled against the sashes to no avail. 

“Ah, ah, ah. No freedom for you, Mr. Sexbang.” 

I whimpered. With no shame. My breaths were ragged. I felt like my insides shook every time she touched me. I hardly noticed that she had slid my pants down because she kept a hand on my body at all times. There was too much going on for my brain to absorb it all. 

Lexi crawled back up until she was looking me straight in the face. She nipped at my lower lip. “You want me to kiss you?” 

I nodded furiously. 

“You have to tell me.” 

I couldn’t. My lips ached for hers, but I could not for life of me get the words “kiss me” from my brain to my mouth. 

“Say it,” she breathed into my ear. 

“Kiss. Me.” 

Her lips brushed mine. 

Right as I started to say it again, Lexi reached down and grabbed my dick. She moved her hand up and down. I arched my back involuntarily. 

Again, Lexi kissed a path down my chest. She didn’t stop like before, though. She maintained eye contact with me as she flicked her tongue just under the head. She licked me like a goddamned ice cream cone. I clenched my hands into fists. The force at which my blood pumped was making my ears ring. 

Lexi shifted again. She brought her lips to mine, briefly. She tilted her head back as she slid onto me. Our bodies moved together until I felt the quickest head rush of my life. I wanted nothing more than to pull her against me. All I could do was hold my hands in the tightest fits possible, pull against the sashes, and hope I didn’t break the headboard. Lexi gripped my shoulders and cried out “Oh, god!” at the same time that I felt the last pulse of my own orgasm. 

Lexi rolled off of me, then released my wrists. Every inch of both of them burned. I would be sore for a day or two. 

Lexi kissed my cheek. “I’m going to commandeer your shower, okay?”

I was too exhausted for words. “Mhm.” 

“Don’t fall asleep this time.” 

Chapter 4  
After showering, Lexi and decided it was time to take her back to her car. On the way we laughed about how she told Marianne off. When I recounted the “best man in the entire state” line, Lexi laughed so hard that she was gasping for air. She thanked me again for taking her out. 

Hints of the anger and hurt feelings were coming back into her voice.

Lexi brought up the idea of us cooling down for a day or two. I thought about it and agreed. Living a normal life, without random sex, would be good for us. Of the two of us, Lexi needed it the most. She needed to take care of and file away the things that had happened, the feelings she was experiencing. Our relationship had done quite a bit of evolving over the course of sixty or so hours. She needed to sort herself out before we could talk about where it was headed.

We stood by her car for a few minutes. Lexi nestled under my arm, both her arms around my waist. She fit perfectly, like a puzzle piece. I kissed the top of her head. She gave me a good squeeze. Neither of us wanted to let go. 

***

I decided to check in on Arin. I had not heard anything from him since the day before. I showed up at his apartment with a twelve pack of ginger ale, a few small bottles of Gatorade, and a pack of crackers. The sign was still on the door. There was no answer when I knocked, so I picked up the spare key from the decorative rock it was stashed under and let myself in. 

“Arin!” I called out. I didn’t want to just walk in on him. 

“Death?” he responded. “Is that you?” 

I chuckled. “Sure,” I answered in my best creepy voice. I kept talking as I pulled out a tube of crackers and a can of soda. “It is I. Have you blackened your soul for me?” 

“Ah, yes. Thank you, Death. Come to me. Release me from this misery.” 

“As you wish.” 

I found him in his room. 

“You are a brave motherfucker.”

“Eh, you can’t catch food poisoning easily. I’ll survive.” 

“DUDE!” Arin shouted. “Is that fucking ginger ale?”

“Uh-huh.” I handed it to him. 

“You are also the best motherfucker.” 

Wanting to drink something was surely a good sign. I sat the tube of crackers down on the table by the bed.  
“Hey, where’s Suzy?” I had not seen her car when I arrived.

“I told her to get out of the house for a while. There was no reason for her to be miserable here with me when she had managed to avoid the 'Chinese Tragedy'.”

“An honorable man,” I said while relaxing into Suzy’s reading chair. 

I spotted the red marks on my wrists for the first time then. I rubbed at them. At least they didn’t hurt.  
“Wild night?” Arin asked. 

“Morning, yeah.” 

“Nice. So, if you’ve got that going for you, what are you doing here?” 

“Was just out in the area, though I’d see how you were feeling.” 

“I’m awesome.” Sarcasm followed by his face blanching. “So awesome I can hardly contain myself. You may want to uh…”

“Got it.” I left the room. I busied myself by putting the drinks into the fridge. I spotted the take-out containers sitting on the shelf. I took them out and tossed them into a bag. Arin was shuffling into the living room when I came in from taking the bag out to the garbage.

“Bro, I can’t remember a time I felt this disgusting.”

“This is worse than Magfest?” 

“Ugh. Okay, maybe there was that one time.” He laughed. Then groaned. He picked up a piece of paper from the coffee table. “Hey, while you’re here.” He handed it to me. 

It was the rap he had wanted me to work on with him. I scanned over it. I read over it one more time. “So…like this?” I sang out the chorus. 

“And this is why I keep you around. Yes!” 

“Nice. When you’re less disgusting, we’ll work it out.” 

“Cool.” He cleared his throat. “So, things with Lexi are going strong, huh?” 

“It’s complicated. But I’d like to think so.” 

My phone buzzed. It buzzed twice more before I could even get it out of my pocket. Three text from Lexi. The tone of each one was rushed. 

"Joe’s here."

"Can’t call. I don’t feel safe."

"Dan. ASAP plz."

“Fuck.”

“Booty call?”

“Far from it. I gotta run. You gonna be alright?”

“It’s not my first go ‘round,” Arin pointed out. “Go. I’ll catch up with you later.” 

 

Chapter 5

I called Brian from the road. Lexi had messaged him, as well. He was already headed her way. We met at the door to her building.

“This guy,” Brian muttered as we walked to the door. “I never had a good feeling about him. If he hurts her, I swear to god…” 

We entered the building and opted to take the stairs instead of the elevator. We took them two at a time. When we reached her floor, I shot Lexi a message letting her know we were on our way to her door.

Brian opened the door. Lexi was sitting on the couch, but she clearly could not move. Joe was pacing back and forth in front of her. Her left cheek was red. Tears had created a shiny surface on her cheeks. She flashed us a grateful look before looking back to Joe. 

“Joe,” Brian started, “please step away from my niece.” 

Joe spun around. “This has nothing to do with you, old man.” 

“Actually, yeah, it does.” Brian had a handle on this calm thing. “Look, let’s sit down and talk this out.” 

“We’re past that. I’m not leaving here until she says we’re not over.” 

“Joe,” came Lexi’s shaking voice. “Joe. It’s over. It has to be. We spent more time apart than together. You allowed your mother to run me over.”

“Maybe you deserved it, bitch.” 

“Dude,” I said, “you’ve got to be kidding. You can’t treat someone like shit, whether directly or by proxy, come into their home, lay hands on them, and expect them to say ‘oh, I’m sorry. Let me suck your dick for the rest of our lives’. That’s just now how it works.” Rage was building inside me. “What the hell was your plan coming here?”

Joe was furious that we had interrupted whatever he had planned. He kicked over Lexi’s coffee table and stomped toward us. “My plan was to get my woman back. You two aren’t going to stop me.” 

I looked past him to Lexi. Her thumbs were flying across her phone screen. I hoped she was texting the building’s security line. There were always security members on the property. The building owner was smart enough to realize sometimes calling was not always an option and set up a line just for cases like this one. 

I saw a look in Joe’s eyes that scared the shit out of me. He had snapped. I had only met him once or twice before, but he was always cool and collected. This Joe had reached a mental limit he had not realized he had. 

“Listen man,” I carefully began, “stop for a just a second. Think about your motives. I know you’re pissed at Lexi. But would you really have reacted like this if her breaking up with you was the only factor in your life giving you trouble?” I was taking a shot in the dark. From what Lexi had told me about Joe’s mother, I could assume this reaction had something to do with him wanting to hold on to something of his own choosing instead of something created, dictated by his mother. 

He stopped moving. For a second, I thought I had pulled some “Criminal Minds” magic out of thin air. 

“You fucked her,” he spat. He was staring fire into my soul. “Didn’t you!?”

I brought both hands up in a gesture of peace. “Look, man, that’s not what this is about.” 

“The hell it isn’t!” Joe shouted. 

He charged at me.  I side-stepped out of his path, unsure of how to react. A large man stepped into the doorway just as I moved. Joe slammed into the man’s chest with enough force to push the man back a few steps. 

“Heard there’s an issue on this floor,” he said wryly. “Guess they were right, downstairs.” He twisted Joe’s arm so that his body turned. “What’s the deal, son?” 

Joe was too shocked to respond. 

“Everyone okay up here?” the guard asked, looking specifically at Lexi. 

She nodded. 

“Alright, fella, let’s get out of here.” 

“Thanks,” Brian and I said at the same time. 

“Not a problem,” he responded pleasantly. Almost like he enjoyed this part of the job. 

I sat facing Lexi on the couch. She had brought her knees up to her chest. I touched her face. Her cheek was warm where Joe had apparently slapped her. I brushed away a tear with the pad of my thumb. She leaned into me. I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her. I stroked her hair until her sobs stopped. She took in deliberate breaths in an attempt to steady herself. 

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t want to drag anyone into that mess.” 

“Don’t apologize.” I squeezed her against me. “Lexi, he could have seriously hurt you.” 

“He won’t be doing that anymore,” Brian stated firmly. “I followed the guard downstairs and gave him the details about what had happened. They took his photo and will make sure he’s not allowed in the building again. They’re also filing a police report. Lex, they will probably be getting in touch with you soon.” 

“Thank you, Uncle B. You’re the best.” 

“It’s my job.” He came toward us. “You okay?” he asked, squatting in front of Lexi. 

She nodded. “Thank you for everything. I’ll be okay.” 

***  
I stayed with Lexi after Brian left. I stood up to get us each something to drink. When I came back to the couch, Lexi had stretched out and fallen asleep. I covered her up with a throw blanket from her bed. I brushed some hair away from her face, then kissed her lightly on the cheek. She stirred a little. 

“Danny?” 

“I’m right here.”

“I love you.” With that, she fell asleep again. 

I loved her too, I realized. I had, it seemed, for quite a while.


End file.
